Robot Birthday Cake Tutorial

I can't believe it's almost been one year since my little guy turned 3! I thought it was probably time to finish sharing the details from his party. :)

So, today I'm sharing a tutorial on how I made his robot cake. It was a big hit and pretty simple too!

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Purchase a cake mix, vanilla frosting, twinkies, & some candies. You may also need food dye, a candle, and a cake decorating bag or plastic bag cut on the corner.
2. Bake a regular 9 x 13 cake & one cupcake.

3. After the cake is cooled, cut it into 4ths.
4. On the plate you will be serving your cake on, carefully & evenly layer the cake pieces, with frosting between each layer.

5. Frost your layered cake. I used gray frosting I mixed myself with a little blue & orange.
6. Frost 2 twinkies and attach them to either side for arms. I used yellow frosting for this.
7. Frost 2 twinkies and place them on the plate, against the cake for the legs. Mine are mostly red food dye with a little bit of yellow.
8. Frost your cupcake and place it on the top for the head. I mixed turquoise frosting with mostly blue food dye and a hint of green.
9. Now decorate with your candies & frosting.
10. Serve & enjoy.

Check back soon for the complete party details! You can find my robot party printables here.

Sweet 16 Party

My sweet little niece turned 16!! To help her celebrate, I designed a party printable set. It's fun designing a set especially to fit someone's style and personality.

Azure didn't want anything too girly. She requested the color palette and no polka dots or zebra stripes. But, she likes stripes & giraffe print. So, this is what I came up with...



It was fun to get pictures of the party in my e-mail the other day. So, I thought I'd share a few with you. One of these days I'll set up my own photo shoot with my ideas on how to use this set. But, for now I'd better finish my other projects. :)

Enjoy this Moment

I am an extremely goal oriented person. I like to have a plan and be on course for accomplishing my goals. Unfortunately this makes it really hard for me to enjoy each moment. So, I just made myself this little reminder:

Background from Graphics Fairy

I've always dreamed of being a mother of young children and looked forward to it for so long. So, sometimes I stop a moment and try to burn a memory into my mind as I watch my sweet husband with our baby girl, look at my 2 little boys play together, or listen to the funny things they say... Just feeling happy for life.

Here comes that goal-oriented part of me...

I'm trying to do this more by: 

1. Reading Articles: Where You Need to Live by Jon Acuff, Drops of Awesome by Daring Young Mom, Always in the Middle by Dieter F. Uchtdorf and scriptures to stay focused.

2. Continuing to do "Activities": Each day from 12-2pm I do something with the kids. It can be as simple as playing outside, going to the dollar store, making cupcakes, playing legos, etc. I need to remember to use this time to interact with the kids (not just being "there").

3. Journaling: I try to write a page in each child's journal each month about what they do and say, how they've grown, how I feel about them, etc. I've gotten behind and I'm not keeping notes like I need to.

What do you do to keep yourself "in the middle" or "enjoying the moment"?

The Booth is Open!

Hi Friends!! I've been one busy lady, as usual. :) When are we not busy, right? Our roof started leaking, I replaced the broken tile in the bathroom, my baby girl is starting to walk... For good or bad, I'm happy for this wonderful life!

Today I want to share may newest adventure... I opened a booth in a local craft boutique! It's a cute little store with a very sweet owner. The price was reasonable. So, I thought why not give it a try?

I also have a shop on Etsy. But, I think the boutique will be a good motivator to keep me designing.

Robot Birthday Party Favors

Hi Friends! A while ago I threw my little guy a robot party. There are tons of great robot party ideas out there! It was a lot of fun putting together all the best ideas for his special day.

These are the favors I made for the party. I got the original idea from here. However, after I priced out all the goodies I would need for a bunch of kids I knew I needed to adapt the idea to fit my budget.

So, here is my adaptation. The great thing is, you can use this concept with whatever fun things you can find. For example, this gal added googley eyes.



1. Gather your supplies:
• Boxes of snaps, juice boxes or other fun things for bodies
• Now and laters, starbursts, or other goodies for heads
• Tootsie rolls, laffy taffy or other fun things for arms (2 each)
• Tape, scissors, permanent marker, alumium foil, & glue gun
• "Thanks for Coming" printable
2. Wrap your head treat in aluminum foil like a present & draw a face using your marker.
3. Wrap "Thanks for Coming" printable around the "body".
4. Attach the head and arms to the body using hot glue.
5. Be creative, repeat, and have fun with it. Kids love to help with this!

More on our robot party coming soon!

Choosing a Family-Friendly Sofa

Forgive me while I complain for a moment or just skip down for tips. :) I'm really bugged by my sofa right now. It reminds me of the money mistakes we made as newlyweds...

My Living Room

OUR MISTAKES:
1. We thought we needed a new sofa & loveseat set because our thrift store ones weren't "good enough". Plus, my sister & her husband just bought one and it looked so nice.
2. We were convinced we needed to build our credit. So, we put it on 90-days same as cash.
3. We had to get micro-fiber because it was all the rage, cleans up great, everyone loves it!

Silly newly weds! Wrong, wrong, wrong. You don't need a new sofa. Save your money and pay cash. Do your research. Shop around!

Ok. I'm done yelling at myself. So, let me give you tips on choosing a family-friendly sofa.

Pretty Pottery Barn Sofa

TIPS:
1. Don't get micofiber, microfleece... whatever they are calling it these days. Yes, you can clean the dirt and spills of easily... BUT it leaves water rings all over the place. Also, when they start to wear, the fleecy stuff wears off and leaves a dark wear area.
2. Pay cash! Make yourself save up.
3. Take your time and do your research. Ask friends and family, look it up on-line. Research and shopping around will benefit you in the long-run.
4. Consider well-fitting slip-covers. I really like the idea of Ikea's slipcovered sofas because you can remove them and wash them. They aren't your usual saggy slip-covers because they are designed for their sofas.

Make Your Own Slipcovers

So, now for me several years later... The structure of our set is in great shape (although not the style I'd pick today). We don't have a cash to buy a new set. Instead we are shopping around for some well-fitting slipcovers. Making my own like the set above would be great!

I have too many unfinished project to take that on today. Here's my favorite today by Wayfair from Walmart.com. I'll post new living room pics when the decision is final.

Sofa Slipcover at Walmart

What have you learned about choosing a sofa? What is your favorite... slipcovers like me, leather maybe?

Nativity Set Refresh

I bought this really pretty nativity set as a teenager. It was really simple... Joseph, Mary, Jesus and 2 sheep. I loved that it was all white and I even glazed it and had someone fire it myself.

Sadly about a year ago my husband broke it while taking down the Christmas decor. He felt awful and so did I. It is one of those irreplaceable things.

I can't believe how expensive nativity sets are to buy, especially the pretty ones. So here is my solution. I bought this cheap set at the thrift store for $5. Add a can of semi-gloss ivory spray paint... Voila!

Not quite as lovely as my last set, but Christmas wouldn't have been the same without a nativity. I love that you can use this idea for any crazy nativity set you find. The ivory paint unifies it and makes it fit into any decor.

DIY Homemade Doll

I have been having a lot of fun with my Esty shop lately! I added some fabric art I designed. I'm excited to start making projects with it.

This is the first project I made with my doll fabric. It is a gift for my daughter's birthday. I think it would be fun to add ribbons in the dolls hair or a little button on her dress. I didn't because my daughter is one and I didn't want pull things off and choke on them.

It was really simple to make. I just cut around the doll, sewed fabric to the back, and filled it with polyfil. Done!

WARNING: Suffocation hazard.

Christmas Candy

I love to make Christmas candy! It's a fun family tradition. This year I am simplifying... peanut butter cups (my recipe here), cake balls (recipe here), and caramels. I decided to try one new recipe for my friend that can't have dairy or chocolate... microwave divinity (from here). Guess what?! It worked!

Give it a try. What's your favorite holiday candy?

Mailbox Before & After

Don't settle for ugly house numbers! Both of the homes we have purchased came with these same ugly reflective house numbers. It was one of the first things I changed in both cases.

The secret to this mailbox is $1 can of black spray paint and a few bucks for some adhesive house numbers that I cut out and spray painted along with the label and lid.. Much better!

Just linked this project up to the William Morris Project. You should check it out here. It's really inspiring me to get rid of things and make things look prettier!

Cotton Ball Snow Activities

Sorry it's been so long since I blogged! It wasn't my plan at all. However, I have been trying to focus on being consistent with work (I mostly work from home), keeping up with housework, and spending time with the kiddos... Anyway, a side-effect was no blog post for.. 3 months! Wow!

I've missed blogging and feel ready to add some other things I enjoy back into my routine. I've been doing a lot of projects so it will be fun to show them off soon.

First, here's what we did today for our activity... We had a "snowball fight" with cotton balls. Then we put them into a dish towel and threw them up in the air. Finally, we created these little scenes. It was a lot of fun!

Baby Girl Shower

Here are some images from the baby girl shower for my friends. It was a fun party! Miss you Mandi & Sarah!

I designed the clothes-line banner to coordinate with the shower invites.

The shower was right after work so I made these super easy barbecue chicken sandwiches ahead of time. The mini fruit pizzas were a big hit too. The pretty quiche and pasta salad were brought by my co-workers. Yum!

It was fun to set the table with my pretty dishes. If there are only a few guests, it's worth the extra effort of washing dishes. I also designed custom napkin rings with each guest's name and look-alike doll.

After giving them their gifts & baby shoes, the rest of the night was spent making some special things for the guests of honor to take home. We used clips, felt, ribbons, crocheted flowers, hot-glue, scissors & thread to make hair clips.

We also made "Baby Prediction Books". These turned out fun! We cut images from magazines and drew to create what we thought each baby would look like. Then we added our predictions... weight, date, temperament, favorite foods... How close did we come?

This shower inspired me to create a printable baby girl shower that I'm now selling on etsy. I'll share one more project from this then reveal all the details.

Crock-pot BBQ Chicken Sandwiches + Egg-free Rolls

This is a great, easy recipe for shredded BBQ chicken. I love to make it for parties because it can be prepared ahead and kept warm until the guests arrive. Last time I made this was for a baby shower (more on that still coming).

Chicken
Chicken Breasts
BBQ Sauce

Place chicken in crock-pot. Top with BBQ sauce. Cook on high for about 4 hours. Shred with forks and mix, before serving.

Egg-free Rolls
from: Sarah

2 3/4 C Flour
2 T Sugar
1 T Oil
1 T SAF Yeast (or instant yeast)
1 C Hot Water

Mix everything together in a bowl, then knead for about 5-7 minutes. Form into rolls. Put in a pan. Let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes, covered with a towel. When the rolls are doubled in size, bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until lightly browned on top.

Our Trip to Oregon

Did you miss me? Here's a peek at what we've been up to.

Our trip to Oregon was amazing, beautiful, fun, and inspiring. What a nice refresh!

Now I'm in after trip mode... laundry, cleaning, emptying bags... yuck! But, I promise more craftiness soon!

Handmade Shirt: How to Sew Sleeves

I've been wanting to sew a shirt for a while and I finally did! You should try it too. I was really happy that it worked since I didn't use a pattern. Mostly I was worried about sewing the sleeves. I've never made a shirt or anything with sleeves & heard they are really hard. After seeing this article and a tip from my friend I gained the confidence I needed to give it a try.

I think it turned out pretty well for my first shirt. Here are the tips I used for sewing the sleeves. I still have a lot to learn but here's a start...

1. Use a sleeve pattern: Don't try drafting your own sleeve. I got that tip from here. Since I didn't have a sleeve pattern, I cut the sleeve off an old button up shirt I had already chopped up for this banner.

2. Sew in the right order: My friend Wendy gave me this tip. I'm really glad she did! I would have never guessed that you sew the curve of the sleeve to the arm of your shirt first. Then sew under the arm and down the side of the shirt.

3. Use the right sleeve shape: I wanted my sleeves to have a little gather but didn't realize I needed to adjust my sleeve shape for this. Because of this my sleeves are a little tight. This article is great at explaining how to make different sleeve shapes.

A few more things I will do differently next time...

1. Take a before picture: I didn't take a picture of this old maternity dress that got handed-down to me. That is what I started from. It was nice because I didn't have to hem the bottom. I also ended up using the buttons & tie from it.

2. Taper your shirt from top to bottom: Mine ended up kind of bunchy under the arms because I just went straight down.

3. Scoop the neck: I tried to make the neck scoop a little in the front but it wasn't enough. It looked pretty funny so I cut it open and added the buttons from the old dress.

4. Add a tie: A wrap around the waist will help make your shirt look more fitted.

Now that I've overcome my fear of sleeves, next up is buttons and button holes...